Los Angeles: Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Film at LACMA

LACMA's film department is currently screening "Cries and Whispers: The Psychological Cinema of Ingmar Bergman." Films being exhibited include "The Silence" (1963) and "The Seventh Seal" (1956), the former about contemporary alienation and the latter about a medieval plague. Although renown as a director of dramas, Bergman's films transverse genres, moving from the austere to the comedic to the libidinous. Not surprisingly, Woody Allen described him as "probably the greatest film artist...since the invention of the motion camera."
Bergman and actress Ingrid Thulin during the production of "The Silence"

Early this year LACMA's Film Department held a retrospective of Andrei Tarkovsky, a Russian filmmaker whose film "My Name is Ivan" (1962) was central to Kirsten Everberg's 2008 exhibition at 1301PE. "My Name is Ivan" is about a 12-year old boy who works as a spy on the eastern front during WWII. Ivan's small stature allows him to cross the Soviet/German border unnoticed, traveling through marsh, barb wire, and the Dnepr River.

Title screen for "My Name is Ivan" (translates as Ivan's Childhood)

Film: John Ford's Upstream at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater

This Wednesday "Upstream" (1927), a silent comedy thought long lost by American director John Ford, is screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Blvd. The film was one of many important silent films put into cold storage by the New Zealand Film Archive. Because New Zealand marked the last stop in the global circuit for most films, many American films stayed there due to the expense of shipping and are only now being rediscovered thanks to ambitious conservation efforts.

Stills from "Upstream"

Film: Kurosawa at The Egyptian

To celebrate the centenary of Akira Kurosawa's birth, The Egyptian is screening 11 of his most iconic films. RAN and The Seven Samurai are being screened this weekend. The schedule of upcoming films can be viewed on The Egyptian's website.

Inside the Egyptian

Photo of the Great Lord from Kurosawa's epic film RAN